The Santa Express!

We met up with Chris's parents the weekend before Christmas for Reed to enjoy the ride on the Santa Express train in Blue Ridge, GA.  We had all ridden the train before with our niece and nephews and we knew that we wanted to take Reed to ride it.  The kid L-O-V-E-S trains.  And he doesn't mind seeing Santa, Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, and a bear Reed named Mr. Conductor Bear.  We saw lots of different characters and heard a story about The Santa Express that included Reed receiving a bell (kind of like The Polar Express).  We all had so much fun, especially watching Reed's excitement about all of it!

Excited about the train and holding onto his Mr. Conductor Bear card.

Reed with Mike Mike and Kath.

Family Pic......it's pretty much impossible to get a pic with an excited little boy!

Waving at Frosty the Snowman!  (Sorry Chris for the bad pic of you, it was too cute to pass up.)

Hanging out with Rudolph.

Excited to see Santa.

Not so excited about sitting in his lap, lol!

Mr. Conductor Bear

Welcome Baby Grace!

Our good friends Jordan and Maureen welcomed a precious baby girl, Grace Catherine, into the world yesterday.  I am sure that she and Reed will be fast friends as Reed already adores her big brothers and sister, Jack, Luke and Claire. She is absolutely adorable and I am sure she will be just as much fun as the rest of the Broggi kiddos.  We can't wait to meet her!  Congratulations you guys!!

A little update!

I finally feel like I have my head above water with buying Christmas gifts, so I figured it was time that I update the blog after two whole weeks without a post.  While I am making strides with my Christmas shopping list, we are all keeping our fingers crossed that the tree we purchased the weekend after Thanksgiving, which hasn't had a drop to drink since it was in the ground mind you, will not turn brown until after New Year's or Christmas, if we're lucky.  This is not to say we haven't given the tree some water, it just refuses to drink.  Next time, we'll try drilling a hole in the bottom before putting it in the stand like one friend recommended.  Chris drilled holes into the side of the tree, yes, while it was in it's stand, but that hasn't seemed to help.  Uh oh.

And back the Christmas shopping stress, I have promised that I am going to do most, if not all, of my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving next year.  I find myself getting uber stressed out and not able to actually enjoy the season because of it.  Okay, I've said it here, I have to live by it now, lol!

And onto the more important stuff.....in the midst of all the mayhem, I've gotten to hang out with this adorable kiddo.

And, what's new with this adorable and hilarious little guy?

• To start things off, we found out yesterday that Reed has been hit with his first ear infection.  Thankfully he never complained about it hurting, but we noticed a cough that kept getting worse a few days ago.  We're hoping that the antibiotics will kick this infection to the curb quickly.
• He is making huge strides in his progress at school, which means he is restraining himself from hitting or pushing his friends.  The teachers have even told me several times that someone else was  pushing on Reed and he didn't even react.  Way to go Reed!!  We'll discuss how to deal with the bullies when he gets older, but for right now, we prefer he not be the bully.
• He has recently started making up a song about anything and everything.  A few weeks ago we were in the grocery store and he sang "I want some milk and some pears, some milk and some pears."  Silly boy!
• He has become very to bossy, to us, his friends, and even perfect strangers.  Just today, we were out shopping when a lady sat on a bench with a molded greenery reindeer.  He said, from afar, "no people, not sit on the bench".  One night he asked me to sing Mary Had a Little Lamb, so I began to sing it.  Then he said "no, Mommy, you not sing it.  I sing it."  And then he began to sing.
• He is also very assertive with what he wants.  "I not want to eat chicken."  "No, not listen to music, Mommy.  Turn it off."  Oh, how will we ever survive these terrible twos!?!?!?
• He is such a smarty pants.  He never ceases to amaze us with the things he knows or remembers.  One thing that comes to mind on the memory part is that we took him to tailgate at a Georgia Tech game this year and we parked in a parking deck.  Well, when we pulled into a parking deck a few weeks ago no where near Georgia Tech, he asked "where are the yellow jackets?"

So, that's just a little update for now.  Expect more soon, especially since we are trekking north to Blue Ridge tomorrow to go on a train ride with Santa.  Reed is going to love it, riding the train that is, maybe not-so-much the Santa part.  We saw him at the mall the other day and Reed waved at him and said "hi" but when I asked him if he wanted to sit in his lap, he said "no".  He did, however, sit in Santa's lap at school.  Let's hope he can swing it again!

Reed and Norman

My PawPaw, who Reed calls PawPaw Gerald, which is too precious for words, got Reed a miniature horse named Norman.  He knows that Reed loves, loves any time there are pony rides available, so he wanted to get him one that he could ride anytime he wanted.  Reed absolutely loves Norman.  Thank you PawPaw!!

And thank you to both of my grandparents and my parents for taking care of Norman!  I am sure our neighborhood association wouldn't appreciate us housing a miniature horse in our backyard, although I am sure Reed and the rest of the neighborhood kids wouldn't mind, lol!

Our little cowboy!

He kept taking his hat off and waving it.  Hilarious.

More hat waving!

Reed with PawPaw Gerald doing one of his other favorite things!

Unconventional Roller skating!

As Reed was scrounging through a cabinet this morning, he came across these baby food trays.  What was once used to freeze his baby food is now being used as roller skates.  He keeps saying "here come roller skates"!

Looking like a pro!

Whoops!

Let the Christmas season begin!

We ventured out today to pick out a Christmas tree.  We were lucky enough to find just the right tree in the first tree that we picked up.  Phew!  Now, we'll have our annual Christmas tree decorating family party with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation playing in the background!  Merry-start-of-the-Christmas-season everyone!!

Photo Sneak!

We braved our first ever family photo shoot a few weekends ago.  I still have a few things to learn, but I think most of them turned out pretty well.  I am seriously considering trying my hand at this and would love to take some FREE photos for anyone interested(I can only coax my toddler into this every once in a while, lol!).  And I'd like to limit the takers on the free photo session to those with low expectations with the potential for high return, ha!

Our Nursery Rhymer!

Preschool

Reed is finally loving school.  It took him some time but he turned the corner a little while ago to the shock of both me and his teachers.  We all kind of looked at each other like, huh, when he walked right in without any coaxing.

He talks about his teachers and his friends in his class.  He also regularly comes home telling me about songs or stories he learned at school.  The other day we had to drop off something at his school and he didn't get to see Miss Mary Howard or Miss Janet and he was none too happy.  I take that as a good sign.

We have had one little hiccup with preschool thus far.  Reed has been put in timeout several times. Yes, timeout.  He got into trouble for hitting his friends.  He knows this is a big no, no.  He even told me "I not hit my friends" when I picked him up that day.  During our parent-teacher conference a month ago, his teachers said that he is 2 and a boy so it is bound to happen.  It continues to be an issue and I have even sent the teachers a please-tell-me-my-child-is-not-going-to-get-kicked-out-of-preschool email.  Thankfully they responded with a 'no'.  Let's hope it stays that way.

His timeouts have progressed to being in the office across the hall from his classroom.  He was actually sent to the office twice in one day.  Not good, not good.  My dad said I absolutely had to document his two trips to the office in one day at two because that has to be some kind of record, ha!

Speaking of the parent-teacher conference, they told me that Reed was a bright, timid, and very enthusiastic little boy.  He originally had a very hard time with the transitions during school, such as getting upset when it was time to line up to go to music, etc.  They said that this is no longer a problem, phew.  We are just crossing milestones as quick as we can.  They also said that Reed gets super excited and belly laughs at pretty much anything they show him that's new to him.  What a sweet boy!

Reed has sung the hello and goodbye songs for us.  It goes a little something like this......"hello Jensen, hello Jensen, hello Jensen, have a gooda day."  Yes, Reed puts an "a" on the end of good and it is so cute.  Jensen tends to be the one he wants to say hello to the majority of the time.  It might be his first girlfriend in the making.

Me and another mom were responsible for the Halloween Party a few weeks ago.  It was a lot of fun to watch the kiddos eat their snack, make a pumpkin craft and play a pumpkin toss game.  It was very exhausting though and I was only there for about 30 minutes.  Props for sure go to Reed's teachers!

Reed at school....as a cowboy!

All the kiddos enjoy snack time!

Snow White aka Miss Mary Howard.

Boy or Girl? And other hilariousness.

Ever been scared to death and completely mortified all in the same day? I have.

Yesterday was that day for me.

While running errands yesterday, Reed and I were at the mall and he complained "my back is hurting" while sitting in his stroller.  I just assumed that he was tired of sitting in the stroller, so I took him out.  He proceeded to run around and play normally.  He did his usual stay with mom for two minutes and then run off routine.

We left the mall soon after and once we got on 400 to head north to run another errand he was screaming in pain.  I too just assumed that he would prefer to be running around and not strapped in his car seat.  It got considerably worse as the drive progressed to where I was beginning to worry.  We got to our destination and I took him out of the car.  He just couldn't get comfortable.  He would lay his head on my shoulder and then start twisting around.  And he was screaming out in pain the entire time.  I tried to get him to run around and play but no dice.  So I called his pediatrician and they recommended that I come in at 1:45 (it was 11:45), for which I replied "I am not going to listen to him scream for two hours".  She said, in that case, you should take him to the ER.  So off we went.

Reed was absolutely miserable.  By the time we got on 400 to go south he had already manage to get his arms out of his straps, hanging over the side of the car seat, arching his back toward the car door.  I started to get scared.  If you know me, you know I always imagine the worse and this was no exception.  After talking to Chris, I decided to call 911.  We pulled over at a restaurant and waited for the ambulance.  During that time, Reed started to get very tired.  We were sitting in the parking lot at this restaurant and the poor little guy just laid down on the ground.  I got even more worried, as did the 911 operator.  She recommended that we be upgraded.  I don't know if that means extra help or get there in a hurry, but I appreciated it.  I really don't deal with things like this very well.  The operator told me repeatedly what a good job I was doing, but that wasn't very helpful.  I tried to manage to keep calm for fear of me passing out (I know, I need to get it together.).   Once I heard the sirens I felt so much better.  And Reed pepped up a bit.  He loves a big truck.  Both an ambulance and a firetruck arrived where we were at the same time.  It was nice to have all that helped, but it also made me a little scared.

They got him into the ambulance lying down on the stretcher and he was miserable again.  They took some of his vitals and then we headed into the hospital.  Reed screamed the entire ride there.  He was inconsolable.  He was screaming "I want to get out" by the time we got to the hospital.  I was thinking the same thing, but it probably isn't wise for a grown woman to act like that.

At the hospital, I was able to take him off the stretcher.  As soon as I did he passed gas, pooted, whatever you like to call it.  And then he was better.  Seriously?!?!  Seriously.  My kid, writhing in pain in his car seat, just apparently needed to poot.  We didn't know that this would necessarily be the cure-all, so they stuck us in a room where we waited for 4 hours.  In the meantime, they took an x-ray of his belly just to rule out a kidney stone and thank goodness nothing showed up.  He was a little lethargic the first little bit we were there, but then pepped up as the afternoon went on.  The doctor told us as we were about to leave that it was probably gas buildup and/or constipation and that maybe I shouldn't go to the mall anymore.  Haha, very funny.  The funny thing was that Chris had literally just arrived from his drive from Charlotte (yes, the poor guy jumped in his rental car and drove almost 4 hours because his kid had to poot), so we joked that Chris told him this before he came in the room.

So anyway, Reed is fine and I am a little, okay a lot, embarassed.  Hindsight being 20/20, I certainly wouldn't have gone to the ER or ever called an ambulance, but this kid was in pain and I didn't know what to do about it.  It is certainly better to be safe than sorry and I wasn't taking a chance with my baby.  Next time we might try a little poot-encouraging tricks (I don't know if there are any, but I am certainly going to look some up, lol) before getting so worked up.

A HUGE thanks to my Mom and my in-laws for trekking down to Atlanta to be with Reed and I while we waited on Chris to arrive.  It was so good not to be alone!!

Here's a pic of our little guy resting on the hospital bed.  There is nothing worse than seeing a baby in the hospital.  Notice the 'send' sticker on his shirt.  The salesman at Nordstrom gave it to him to try to stop his crying.  It worked momentarily.

Happy Halloween!

Our little guy was the cutest cowboy on the block for Halloween.  We debated long and hard about what Reed should be for Halloween.  At this age, he could either run with his costume or be completely miserable in it.  There were several people in his class at school who refused to wear their costumes, so I was happy that we went with something that he was excited about.  And, he was oh-so-cute.  His costume was made even more adorable because every time we would ask him what he was going to be for Halloween he would say "a cowboy doll".  Apparently, there are a few times in the movie Toy Story that Woody is called a "cowboy doll", so Reed wasn't just a cowboy for Halloween, he was a cowboy doll.  Thanks to all those who voted and helped convince us that cowboy was the right option for Reed!

Our neighborhood hosted a pizza party prior to the beginning of trick-or-treating.  He spent most of his time running around the tennis courts versus eating pizza, but I think he had a great time.  After taking a neighborhood Halloween pic, we took Reed to trick-or-treat for the first time.  He was so adorable.  He was a little reluctant to go up to the homes but once he said "trick or treat" and got a piece of candy he then proceeded to say "I want to come in".  That kid, that kid.

We only stopped at 3 or 4 homes and then headed back to our house to let Reed pass out candy.  Oh how our kid loves to see the "kiddos" come to the door.  He would yell "here comes more kiddos" every time they would come up to the door.  He would then tell them "Happy Halloween" once they were heading away.  What a sweet boy!

Our little cowboy riding his pony!

Just a little relaxing ride to the party.

I might be a little biased but he is such a cutie.

Running, running and more running!

Let's play "Where's Reed?".  He should be easy to spot, he's the only unhappy kid in the picture.

A pic of more of the kiddos with Reed in a little bit better mood.

Going up to his first house.

Getting some yummy candy.

No, Reed, you can't go in.  LOL!

Cowboy Reed passing out candy.  He loved every minute of it! 

Texas/Oklahoma Trip

We were super excited to take a trip to Texas to see our good friends, the Carlocks.  They even gave us a tour of their hometown of Ardmore, OK.  This was the first time any of us have ever stepped foot in Oklahoma.  It was a great trip but way too short.  How lucky we are to have such wonderful friends.  We are already looking for a date a few short months away that we can see them again!

We got in on Thursday evening and stayed up way too late chatting with Teal and Laren only to be kept up most of the night by a toddler uncomfortable in his surroundings.  (At least that's what I think it was.)  Each night got better, thankfully.

Baby Tripp....what a cutie!

Reed loved playing with Tripp!

On Friday, we took our time getting ready before we hopped in the car and headed for Oklahoma.  In Oklahoma, we stopped at their favorite local hamburger joint, Hamburger Inn, which was incredible.  We also toured a warehouse that was a funhouse for our animal-loving child.  We also got to see the homes that Teal and Laren grew up in.  So fun!  They returned the favor of taking us to their hometown after we took them to the big city of Summerville when they came to GA two years ago.

A little scary to me but Reed loved checking out all the animals.

Reed and Chris with the big bad wolf.  Kind of looks like The Nothing from Neverending Story to me.

On Saturday, we hit up the State Fair of Texas and tried pretty much every fried food they had.  We tasted fried oreos, fried snickers, fried cheesecake, fried twinkies, fried butter and a corndog.  Needless to say, none of us should eat for the next week or so to make up for everything we ate that day.

Laren enjoying her corndog!

Fried oreos, yumm!!!

Reed trying his first fried oreo.

Our Fam with Big Tex.

Teal and Laren

The fried food that sounded the least appetizing.  We didn't try it.

Reed enjoying my favorite thing that I had at the fair, fresh squeezed lemonade.  Love it!

Reed riding Pepper.

He was not too pleased about getting off the carousel but then he was happy to watch Pepper go round and round.

Saturday evening was a lazy night at the Carlocks home watching football followed by a lazy Sunday morning.  It was a perfect weekend.....including the crazy driving required to get us to the airport to check our bag in just in time (about 2 minutes to spare, lol).  We love you guys!!